He was the son of
Andrew Hay, 8th Earl of Erroll by his first wife, Lady Jean Hay, daughter of
William Hay, 6th Earl of Erroll. He was the second eldest son, but his older brother Alexander, who was a
deaf-mute, was declared "insane" and skipped in the succession. Francis succeeded to the earldom upon the death of his father in 1585. In 1587 he married Mary Stewart, sister of the
Earl of Atholl. She died soon after, and it was alleged he was cruel to her. Her family withheld his dowry money, and her brother took revenge in 1589 when Erroll was declared a rebel. Early in his life he converted to
Roman Catholicism, and as the associate of
George Gordon, 1st Marquess of Huntly joined in the Spanish conspiracies against the throne of
Queen Elizabeth. In 1589, he began engaging in treasonous correspondence with King
Philip II of Spain, who was also briefly King of England by his marriage to
Queen Mary. A letter he wrote to King Philip declaring his allegiance to Spain was intercepted and sent by Elizabeth to
James VI. In February 1589, he was ordered to appear in front of the
Privy Council. Failing to appear, he was denounced as a rebel. He engaged with Huntly and Crawford in a rebellion in the north of Scotland, but their forces surrendered at
Aberdeen on the arrival of the king in April; and in July, Erroll gave himself up to James, who leniently refrained from exacting any penalty. Erroll submitted himself to the king's mercy at
Edzell Castle on 5 August 1589. In September of the same year he entered into a personal bond with Huntly for mutual assistance; and in 1590 displeased the king by marrying, in spite of his prohibition, Lady
Elizabeth Douglas, daughter of the
William Douglas, 6th Earl of Morton. The marriage was arranged at the initiative of the
Master of Glamis, to form a political faction. On 21 April 1590 the
Earl of Montrose and others at
Megginch Castle tried to persuade him not to marry her, but Erroll argued he could change his wife's friends' alliances. He was involved in a quarrel with the
Earl of Atholl at Perth on 29 June 1591, when
Anne of Denmark made a ceremonial entry to the town. Atholl was Provost of Perth and Errol was Constable and they argued over their precedence. Erroll was imprisoned on suspicion of complicity in the attempt made by
Francis Stewart, 5th Earl of Bothwell and
Patrick Gray, 6th Lord Gray to surprise the king at
Falkland in June 1592; and though he obtained his release, he was again proclaimed a rebel on account of the discovery of his signature to two of the
Spanish Blanks, unwritten sheets subscribed with the names of the chief conspirators in a plot for a Spanish invasion of Scotland, to be filled up later with the terms of the projected treaty. After a failure to apprehend him in March 1593, Erroll and his companions were sentenced to abjure Roman Catholicism or leave the kingdom; and on their non-compliance were in 1594 declared traitors. At Midsummer 1594 the earl hosted his allies the earls of Angus and Huntly at Towie, and there were bonfires and drinking and dancing. The Jesuit
James Gordon brought money from the Papal treasury for the rebel earls. On 3 October they defeated at
Glenlivet a force sent against them under the Earl of Argyll. His men carried a banner showing a cross and the beheading of
Mary, Queen of Scots. Erroll himself was severely wounded by a bullet in the arm and an arrow in the thigh. It was falsely rumoured that he came south to
Callendar House, the home of his sister
Helenor Hay, Countess of Linlithgow, and died.
Old Slains Castle, his seat, was razed to the ground. The rebel lords left Scotland in 1595, and Erroll, on report of his further conspiracies abroad, was arrested by the states of
Zeeland, but was afterwards allowed to escape. He returned to Scotland secretly in 1596. In March 1597 he was lodged in the Canongate of Edinburgh, and was in the especial favour of
Anne of Denmark. On 20 June 1597 he abjured Roman Catholicism and made his peace with the
Church of Scotland. He enjoyed the favour of the king, and in 1602 was appointed a commissioner to negotiate the union with England. A letter from the Privy Council about a pension paid to the Earl of Erroll in January mentions that one of his daughters served Anne of Denmark. His relations with the Kirk, however, were not so amicable. The reality of his conversion was disputed, and on 21 May 1608 he was confined to the city of
Perth for the better resolution of his doubts, being subsequently declared an obstinate "
papist",
excommunicated, deprived of his estate, and imprisoned at
Dumbarton; and after some further vacillation was finally released in May 1611. The dispute which began in his lifetime concerning the hereditary office of
Lord High Constable between the families of Erroll and of the
Earls Marischal was settled finally in favour of the former; thus establishing the
precedence enjoyed by the earls of Erroll next after the royal family over all other subjects in Scotland. ==Marriage and issue==